#im not in the server so im not sure what the entire situation entails either so ya

[shoezuki]

I don't know like anything the discord server situation so take this with a grain of salt, but. In a server that large you can't expect every single trigger to be catered to. Let's take me as an example. An uncommon trigger? Eggs out of their shells. Imagine if I strolled into every sever and every person's blog being like 'ayo can you trigger tag this' and then multiply it by a very large number. Everything is a trigger for someone. In severs that large you just can't cater. In dms or mutuals or very tiny servers where you know people probably, but not something that big. Idk, this probably makes no sense and I know next to nothing on the situation, but yeah.

- Slur Anon

YES EXACTLY. i fuckin feel u like.

Okay i have VERY few triggers but theres One r fucking big one that like. Is more complex. But. Christmas is a trigger to me. It goes more into specifics with certain decorations, christmas music, movies, etc. But it causes me to dissociate REALLY badly. Like i can go entire days not remembering anything. Some shit causes me to burst into tears. Its a horrible time of the year for me

But people LOVE christmas. And its everywhere especially where i live. I dont want ppl to feel they shouldnt speak of it or enjoy it. Its my job to prepare myself mentally, distance myself, and figure out how i can Deal w it.

I was in a somewhat Big server once n they tried to have Every trigger always censored. Which means well ofc. But i remember they had to slam down on he entire server jus cuz of my trigger. I felt horrible cuz ppl were just excited to talk bout what they were doing. Thats all.

Like. W friends n small groups? Yea maybe dont talk bout that shit to me i wanna chill. But im such huge servers? Its nearly impossible to handle. Trauma and triggers are much more difficult to account for in such large scales. It cant exactly be realistically done. Its unfortunate, but thats how life is.

Its much better to be open bout it and learn for urself to take urself out of the conversation when it dwells near to such territories. Esp in a server so big. No doubt itll pass fast. Or go to another channel. Idk it jus seems that some weight of triggers n managing such reactions needs to be more On the person w the triggers in such situations

#ask to tag #im not in the server so im not sure what the entire situation entails either so ya #but like. having obscure triggers that arent easily excluded or censored. fucking sucks #but its life. we cope n learn to handle it. #anon #slur anon

[linkario-blog]

Sea of Thieves: Thoughts

One of my friends is a great source of inspiration when it comes to encouraging me to break out of my shell and lay out my unedited thoughts on a subject. I like to keep it in good spirits with him so nothing controversial. His latest was picking at my thoughts in regards to Rare's "Sea of Thieves." In this swashbucklin' title you play a pirate, recruit a crew and sail your way around the infamous sea of thieves in search of treasure and prestige.

In a series of texts, I let him know what I've come to think of the game with a couple days of play. I came into the game with a negative viewpoint, but lets "sea" how it turned out.

"Where to begin? First off: is the game worth $60? In its current state, i would say not. There are a number of reasons I feel this way despite having played it for probably a total of 20 hours or so by now. Lets start with the big one: lack of varied content. There are essentially 5 things you are guaranteed to do in this game. Sail. Explore. Fight. Plunder. Collect.There are slight variations in terms of quest interaction but it boils down to that.

Now its not all as simple as it sounds. Sailing, of course, is the reason [our mutual friend] and so many others have been enthralled by this game and its easy to see why. This is the most polished and well crafted part of the whole package. The mechanics are responsive and easy to grasp, with layouts lending well to many functionalities ; hoisting sails, steering at the helm, callouts from the crows nest, repairing damage, or shooting cannons. Its all well designed and feels intuitive. Its an experience rarely grasped in a modern game and is exptionally exhilarating. This all of course ties into how you decide to play the game.

Ships are built in what feels to be an authentic part of the era. Sloops (the 1 to 2 man vessels) are fast, responsive, and are easy to handle, with many actions able to be performed by 1 person without too much trouble. They are small however and suffer well from the lack of firepower to fight off the larger of the ships, the galleon.

Not only can you have up to 4 on a gally, but your towering size, 3 masts, and 8 cannons can be quite an intimidating sight for the small sloop. This beast requires at least 3 at a time and is a handful to manage with all that mass. Coordination and teamwork are the best, nay perhaps only way to survive on the open seas. They can be quite the target for any overaggresive player or group and can be seen quite well on the waves.

With a group of friends using effective communication, most situations can be handled quite well and can be extremely rewarding when things turn out well. Settling into roles and knowing your comrades really seems to push the winds into ones favor. From our experience, out of probably 15 fights, weve lost once, stalemated once, and have "won" every other engagement. Winning by our vocabulary would be sinking the ship, holding a ship (effectively a spawn camp), and/or plundering their supplies and treasure should they have any while also keeping our vessel afloat. We then leave the fight ship intact. Out of these, the sloops weve attampted to engage are either ambushed and killed or able to outrun our gally.

The best pursuits have been with other frigates as the skill needed by a crew to properly handle such a vessel is put entirely on display. Tactics and cunning plans to shake off pursuers begin to take fold. Skills such as the subtle art of maximizing the amount of wind going into the sails, predicting turns, lowering the anchor at opportune moments and using momentum to turn on a dime; calculated risks of boarding vs cannon fire, sail length for maneuverability vs speed. There is a lot of depth to these mechanics and it shows.

But what good is the sailing if the world is no fun to be in? Well luckily the next thing it seems to have gotten the most attention is the world. The art style is absolutely stunning. Clouds form in the sky, storms show up in the distance, the water behaves in a realistic way. Waves crashing and shifting our vessel with a weight and force that seems consistant with the visual presentation.

Islands range from tropical paradises with white sands, clear blue seas, and vegetation to sheer rocky cliffs with jutting stone spikes rising out of the waves to form a stoney shore. It all feels natural and only slightly gamey in how divided they are from each other and the placement of ports speckled just within reach of any given point.

Each place has a chance to spawn various collectibles ranging from boxes of exotic goods to treasure chests to even small critters such as chickens or pigs that can be captured and sold. Well what if I told you that was pretty much the extent of it? A tad disappointing by the sounds of it I thought. Though i still feel there is so much more potential for this system, the sight of a rare treasure chest or random good still fills me with some excitement. And thats because of the chance for pvp.

Having the chance to encounter others increases the fulfillment of getting back to port with goods to sell and items to turn in. Its like over coming an obstacle thats very nature is shrouded in secrecy. Were we followed? Are there others at port? Is someone coming towards us and if so will they engage or chase? Its a small thrill and is very engaging in terms of keeping things fresh. The reason i bring this up as well is for what seems to be the ultimate prize in terms of booty: Cursed Islands. These places are broadcasted throughout the server to anyone who can see it; a skull cloud in the sky with flashing green glowing eyes.

These places are no joke and are thrilling to take on. Not only must we coordinate as a team, we must also engage others who may wish to start trouble or ambush us as the event ends.

Now how can this be a problem? Well, waves upon waves of skeleton enemies will fight and will vary in 1 of 4 forms and sometimes weaponry. After fighting these within a certain time period, a boss will spawn. When defeated (which btw will also erase the skull in the sky, alerting other players), the boss will drop a skull that can be used to open a treasure chamber where the name of the game becomes: how will we haul this horde to the ship, who will we encounter while attempting this, where is the best place to store it on the vessel , and where can we go to safely unload. All thrilling because of the pvp undertone that permeates the exploration of this game.

This is where some of the problems begin to arrise. This all sounds fun and engaging (because the core ship mechanics work and work WELL), however youve seen me describe fights so far in very vague terms. As it just so happens, i feel this is a big flaw in engaging players to the content beyond ship combat. Right now there are four weapons that can be used by characters engaging on foot: Sword, pistol, blunderbuss, and sniper rifile. You can hold two weapons at any given time and each of the guns have around five shots before you must reload them at an ammo box either on the ship or sometimes inland. The combat is as simple as can be.

Sword has the only variety. A slash (left click), block (right click), "dodge" (hold right click + move) and charge (hold left click). You can cheese some of these moves to do some "strategy" but its VERY bare bones. Guns are a standard aim and fire with blunderbuss having knockback, pistol with decent range and aim, and sniper with superior range.

As far as ship combat goes, cannons are the only form of damage beyond an actual powder keg that can sink a ship, which just so happens to be the only way to defeat one. There is a serious lack of tools to launch or engage anyone beyond just sending that round metal ball. Tools such as a chain shot or swivel guns would be a welcome addition. Ships also have no other variants beyond cosmetic upgrades either. No moving cannons to the front/back or having a ridiculous volley below deck. Its all static, and though that levels the playing field, it throws out variety and customization.

Which i suppose leads into...

The cosmetic progression(!) and what all this fine work leads into as a reward. So youve braved the islands, you've either explored or selected from a list of quests that the NPCs for the 3 factions provided for you. Youve collected the objective. What now?

At port, the 3 faction npcs will also buy whatever relevant loot you have for them. This will provide rep and gold for your character. The rep is used for better quest selection and some unlocks that coincide with the number. The gold is used for cosmetics.

Thats it.

They look neat; sets that match, good models, great to passable designs.

But...

its.

just.

swag.

I had no desire to buy anything but a hat because even though i could spend money on clothes or accessories, i really never see my character. This led me to wanting to buy an upgraded look to our ship and some "skins" for my weapons and tools. They look fine, sure, but once i have them i wont have much desire to pursue other "upgrades" thus defeating the gold purpose.

They have time to correct this, but as it stands now, its use as a motivation is timed. The best reason i have for coming back is just as a chill/exciting environment to engage with our friends.

............................................................................

I havent explained all the great moments we shared or the little things i liked about the game yet nor the glaring bugs and glitches that have plagued our travels but Im starting to drift off so ill have to cut this short.

As a gamepass game, its an excellent way to re-engage with friends and just have a pirate themed adventure, with all the overtones that the mystique entails. As the game evolves, it may reach a point where the $60 gets you something great and worthy of the price. As it stands, it feels like a well crafted big budget indie or early access title that has nailed its core theme but lacks polish in areas beyond the main scope.

The feeling youll have while sailing can be breathtaking and full of little moments that make the game shine. Sailing into the sunset after a particulary taxing mission while listening to the crash of waves, the subtle atmosphere of ropes stretching and pullies clinking, and the sound of our instruments playing a somber shanty towards port will never leave my memory.

The moments can be magical, but it sometimes comes at a price. Regardless i have enjoyed my time with the game so far and will continue to do so for this next week and a half where, with a heavy heart, i will wave farewell to this mystical sea till she lowers her toll of entry. (The end)"

Well there you have it. I wrote all this after a 10-hour binge of the game around 2 am so forgive me for the lack of editing or any mistakes. Thanks for reading and I hope that if you had any fuzzy ideas about the game that this perhaps was able to help clarify them for yourself. Till next time! -Linkario